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Perception of Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels by Danish Listeners

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Perception of Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels by Danish Listeners 121 Perception of Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels by Danish Listeners Denise Cristina Kluge Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) Abstract The word-fi nal nasals /m/ and /n/ have different patterns of phonetic realizations across languages, whereas they are distinctively pronounced in English and Danish, in Brazilian Portuguese (BP) they are not fully realized and the preceding vowel is nasalized. Bearing in mind this difference, the main objective of this study was to investigate the perception of BP nasal vowels by Danish learners of BP. Two discrimination and two identifi cation tests were used and taken by two groups composed of ten Danish learners of English, as a reference for comparison, and ten Danish learners of BP. General results showed both groups had similar diffi culties in both discrimination tests. It was less diffi cult for the Danish learners of BP to identify the BP native-like pronunciation when presented in contrast to a non-native-like pronunciation. 1. Introduction Many studies concerning the perception of second language (L2) sounds have discussed the infl uence of the native language (L1) on accurate perception of the L2 (Flege, 1993, 1995; Wode, 1995; Best, 1995; Kuhl & Iverson, 1995). Moreover, some L2 speech models have discussed the role of accurate perception on accurate production (Flege, 1995; Best, 1995; Escudero, 2005; Best & Tyler, 2007). According to some studies (Schmidt, 1996; Harnsberger, 2001; Best, McRoberts & Goodell, 2001; Best & Tyler, 2007), it is usually believed that, at least in initial stages of L2 learning, adults are language-specifi c perceivers and that they perceive L2 segments through the fi lter of their L1 sound system. Anne Mette Nyvad, Michaela Hejná, Anders Højen, Anna Bothe Jespersen & Mette Hjortshøj Sørensen (Eds.), A Sound Approach to Language Matters – In Honor of Ocke-Schwen Bohn (pp. 121-133). Dept. of English, School of Communication & Culture, Aarhus University. © The author(s), 2019. 122 Denise Cristina Kluge As posited by Flege (1981), L2 sounds may be perceived in terms of those of the L1 by the learner, making this perception different from that of a native speaker. For example, sounds that are separate phonemes in an L2 might be merely allophones of the same phoneme in the L1. Furthermore, Flege states that this may infl uence the production of L2 sounds by a native speaker of this L1 because of the identical mental representation that this speaker has for the two sounds. Flege (1995) also posits in his Speech Learning Model that the perceived relationship between L1 and L2 categories plays an important role in correctly perceiving or producing L2 sounds. According to one of the hypotheses of this model, L1 and L2 sounds are “related perceptually to one another at a position-sensitive allophonic level” and acquisition of L2 sounds depends on the perceived dissimilarity between L1 and L2 sounds (Flege, 1995, p.239). Kuhl (1993) proposes the Native Language Magnet model of speech perception and language development, which works with the concept of L1 phonetic prototypes, or the best exemplars of certain phonetic categories. These prototypes would act as perceptual magnets that pull the surrounding L2 sounds toward the same perceptual phonetic space occupied by the L1 prototype. She states that the nearer the L2 sounds are to the L1 prototype, the more diffi cult it becomes for the L2 speakers to discriminate L1 and L2 speech sounds. Bearing in mind the perspective of both perception models, this article aims at investigating the perception of Brazilian Portuguese (PB) syllable-fi nal nasal vowels by Danish learners of Brazilian Portuguese as a foreign language. In order to understand the diffi culties Danish learners may face in BP with nasal vowels in word-fi nal position, phonological differences between languages have to be considered regarding nasal vowels and nasal consonants in syllable fi nal position. According to Fujimura and Erickson (1997), typically, nasal consonants have a place distinction between /m/ and /n/ as in English and in Danish (Ocke Bohn, 2013, personal communication). However, some languages have no place distinction for nasal consonants in syllable-fi nal position, as Brazilian Portuguese, for instance. In BP, the nasal consonants /m/ and /n/ are not fully realized after a vowel in syllable-fi nal position and sometimes not realized at all, and the preceding vowel is nasalized. According to the literature, the degree of vowel nasalization differs between languages, from subtle as in English (Giegerich, 1992; Hammond, Perception of Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels ... 123 1999; Ladefoged, 2006) to strong as in BP (Oliveira & Cristófaro-Silva 2005). It is important to state that although vowel nasalization can occur in languages such as English and Danish, for instance, nasalization of the vowel is not used to distinguish meaning in English (Ladefoged, 2005), thus vowel nasalization is not a distinctive feature. In BP, nasalization is quite an issue and has motivated different explanations and theories, but, in general and for the purpose of this study, it is assumed that: (a) phonetically, the nasal consonants /m/ and /n/ are not fully realized after a vowel in word-fi nal position and sometimes not realized at all; and (b) the vowel assimilates nasalization from the following nasal consonant (Cristófaro Silva, 1999; Mateus; D’andrade, 2000; Câmara Jr., 1971; Kluge et al., 2009; Kluge, 2010). The differences regarding the pronunciation of word- fi nal nasals /m/ and /n/ in Danish, English and in Brazilian Portuguese are extremely relevant to understand the diffi culties that Danish learners of BP may have in the accurate discrimination/identifi cation of BP syllable-fi nal vowel nasals. 2. Method and procedures The data collection occurred from February 19th to March 07th, 2013 at Aarhus University. Two discrimination tests (same or different and AXB) and two identifi cation tests (native vs. nonnative pronunciation and oral vs. nasal vowels) as well as a questionnaire for assessing biographical information about the participants, and a word recognition test were designed for this study and administered to 20 Danish listeners divided into two groups: (1) ten Danish learners of BP; and (2) ten Danish learners of English, as a reference for comparison. The group of Danish learners of BP consisted of 10 undergraduate student from the Bachelor’s degree program in Brazilian Studies at Aarhus University at the time of data collection: 2 men and 8 women, ages ranging from 20 to 29 (mean 23,2). Nine participants reported Danish as L1 and one participant reported Danish and Finish as L1. As regards foreign language, they all mentioned English as a L2. They all reported having no hearing problems. The questionnaire that assessed the participants’ profi le considering BP learning showed that (a) 8 participants started learning Portuguese after 20 years old (from 20 to 29); (b) 2 participants reported having contact to Portuguese since childhood but not regular/formal learning; (c) 7 participants have studied Portuguese for 6 to 8 months by the 124 Denise Cristina Kluge time of data collection; and (d) 3 participants have studied Portuguese for 2,5 to 3 years by the time of data collection. Regarding their experience in Portuguese speaking countries, 3 participants said they had lived in Brazil for 1 to 6 months about 1 year before data collection and 1 participant had lived to Portugal for one month 2 years before data collection. The questionnaire showed the participants BP usage regarding hours speaking and listening to Portuguese per day in terms of percentage which varied from 10 to 40 per cent. The group of Danish learners of English consisted of 10 under- graduate student from the Bachelor’s degree program in English at Aarhus University at the time of data collection: 6 men and 4 women, ages ranging from 20 to 27 (mean 24,4). All participants reported Danish as L1 and one participant reported German as a L2 besides English. They all reported having no hearing problems. The questionnaire that assessed the participants’ profi le regarding English learning showed that (a) 1 participant started learning English at the age of 5; (b) 1 participant started learning English at the age of 8, (c) 5 participants started learning English at the age of 10, and (d) 3 participants started learning English at the age of 11-12. Two participants also reported they had lived in English speaking country for 6 -10 months about 5 years before data collection. The questionnaire also showed the participants reported spending from 10 to 80 percent of the day either listening to or speaking English. The stimuli of the four perception tests were recorded in a phonetic lab at a university in Brazil by three female native speakers of BP ages ranging from 23 to 50 years old (mean 36) with no knowledge of Danish. All of them were advanced speakers of English and were phonetically trained to pronounce the target words with and without vowel nasalization, whenever necessary. The stimuli of same or different discrimination test consisted of 5 two-syllable words: sabão – ‘soap’, porém –‘however’, assim –‘so’, batom – ‘lipstick’, atum – ‘tuna’. Each word was recorded in two different conditions: with and without vowel nasalization. That is, in the word sabão – ‘soap’, for example, the word-fi nal vowel was recorded as a nasal vowel as well as an oral vowel by the three talkers. In each trial, the participants heard two realizations of the same word and had to indicate if the words were the same or different regarding the fi nal sound. Each word was spoken by a different talker within a trial. Each word appeared in 4 trials varying in position of appearance (fi rst or second position) and contrasting vowel Perception of Brazilian Portuguese Nasal Vowels ..
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